(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to teaching machines and particularly to trainers which present problems to and require active responses from the student. More specifically, this invention is directed to the simulation of problems and to the measurement of student reaction to such simulated problems. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved apparatus and methods of such character.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Teaching machines or trainers are, of course, now well known in the art. In evolution, teaching machines have progressed from "hardwired" simulators which lack the capability of presenting multiple lesson subjects without difficult and expensive rewiring, as exemplified by the trainer of U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,883, to computer based systems, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,790. The computer based trainer has the attribute of being adaptable, through the expedient of reprogramming a memory, to present a plurality of different lesson subjects. The prior art hardwired and programmable teaching machines all approach the problem of lesson simulation through definition of a set of system output variables and a set of system input variables that describe the attributes of the subject of the lesson which may, for example, be a piece of equipment which is to be simulated. A set of conditions, or in the case of apparatus a set of malfunctions related thereto, related to the input/output variables is also defined. Finally, the output variables, the input variables and the conditions or malfunctions are related to each other in the form of a Boolean model.
As noted above, the implementation of the logical Boolean relationship between output variables, input variables and conditions has employed various types of hardware and techniques. Prior hardwired trainers have employed relay-type logic and have been expensive to fabricate, troubleshoot and maintain. Prior computer based or programmable teaching machines have also been comparatively expensive. Thus, there has been a desire in the prior art for a trainer which, while of the fixed program type, takes advantage of the most recent advances in solid state electronics technology and thereby has the reliability attributes of the previous programmable trainers while simultaneously being less costly than both the previously available hardwired and computer based teaching machines.